Bail set at $1 million for Tacoma man charged in fatal crash

Anthony Hem had barely been released from the hospital when police arrested him and a judge ordered him jailed on $1 million bail.

Tacoma police found him Thursday at an apartment complex in the 200 block of Tacoma Avenue and arrested him on a warrant that was issued after a May 10 wreck that killed Hem’s girlfriend, 26-year-old Marisa Richie.

Prosecutors contend Hem caused the fiery crash that ended near East 64th Street and Waller Road after a high-speed chase. Hem allegedly lost control of a stolen pickup and drove into a utility pole, shearing the pole off at the base.

Officers found the truck on its top and on fire. Richie was dead. Hem and a friend in the truck, Pierre Jennings, 20, were seriously injured.

The trouble started May 9 when Hem, Jennings and Richie were sitting inside a car at a Lakewood apartment complex. A resident asked them to move the car out of his assigned stall, and the three attacked him and stole his 2004 GMC pickup, according to charging papers.

Around 1 a.m. on May 10, a Tacoma police officer spotted the stolen truck and tried to stop, it but Hem, who was driving, took off.